There Is No Water In The Forest
by Kaz Gemcity
Summary: "Fifteen different medical professionals, on eleven different planets, and all of them say the same thing Sweetie. I'm going to die. Some disease that can only be contracted in Ancient Lillium on The Panic Moon." / River Song has to say goodbye to the man she loves.


_**A/N- I am so sorry. I hope you like it. Let me know what you think. Read and review, as always. Umm... Again. I'm sorry. **_

She was standing near the console when I walked in. Her hair was blowing out behind her, though there wasn't even a whisper of a breeze in the TARDIS. I made a mental note to ask her how she did that. I watched her, as she moved gracefully around the room, pressing buttons and flipping switches. She looked every bit the fierce, beautiful warrior I knew she was.

I smiled, she hadn't noticed me yet. It was a perfect opportunity to sneak up on her. Though I had never been able to manage it before, there was a first time for anything.

"Hello Sweetie." River's words pulled me out of my thoughts. So she had noticed me. I stepped out of the door-frame and properly into the room.

"Hello River." I greeted carefully, straitening my bow-tie with a smug smirk.

She smiled at me gently, hand reaching out for my face. But she stopped mid-movement. Her hand ghosted over my cheek, skin barely touching mine, before she pulled away.

My smile fell when I looked into her eyes. There was something in them, a deep, prolonged sadness that I had never seen before.

"River?" I questioned quietly. She had been silent since I walked into the room, and that couldn't mean anything good. River Song was never silent, never shy.

She jumped slightly, as if I had startled her. I was officially worried. This was not the River that I knew.

"River." I repeated, more firmly this time, definitively pulling her away from whatever thoughts she was lost in. She smiled then, bright and perky, and distinctly Riv er-like. But I was not fooled. There was still that pain in her eyes, however hard she tried to bury it.

"Hush now Sweetie. We're going on an adventure." River said dramatically, holding on tightly to the railing as the TARDIS to rock and whirl, spinning, barely controlled, through space and time, no doubt.

"River!" I yelped, grabbing for any switch I could get my hands on to stop the movement. I pressed and pulled randomly, until the TARDIS stilled, and I sighed.

"Spoil sport." River sang, mock pouting and dancing around the console, just out of my reach.

"What had gotten into you?" I demanded, throwing my hands up.

"One minute you're staring into space, mind a million miles away for your body. The next you're all bouncy and happy go lucky and... And... and travelly!" I snapped, pausing too search through my mind for just the right word.

"I want to know what's going on. And I want to know now. Or so help me Melody Pond, I will tell your mother!" I threatened, taking step after step closer to her until I was satisfactorily in her personal space.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before meeting my demanding gaze. She looked at me and shrugged, stepping nimbly away.

"I'm dying." She said the words with a certain nonchalance, as if they meant nothing. The way she said it you would think that she was talking about her flat payments or a book she enjoyed but would not recommend.

"You're dying?" I repeated, admittedly a little slow on the draw.

"Soon. As the case may be." She responded, shrugging again. But when I caught her eyes the sadness was still there. The sadness and the fear.

I pulled her into my arms, silently, holding her tight against me. For a few moments, she protested, pushing me away in a last attempt to preserve her cool bravado. Still I refused to let her go, and when the fight went out of her, and sobs overtook her, I caught her. I lowered us to the floor, and she curled up in my lap.

Time slipped away from me while I rocked her gently, waiting patiently for River to calm. It could have been seconds or it could have been millennium before she calmed, and I wouldn't have known the difference, I wouldn't have cared.

"You're not dying." I swear, when her breathing had returned to normal. She looked up at me and pushing my dark hair away from my face. She smiled sadly, running her hands over my face lightly.

"Fifteen different medical professionals, on eleven different planets, and all of them say the same thing Sweetie. I'm going to die. Some disease that can only be contracted in Ancient Lillium on The Panic Moon." I frowned, and pulled out the sonic screw driver, waving it over her a few times before I checked the readings.

I jumped up and started pacing, checking the sonic every few seconds and checking the TARDIS screen in the meantime.

"This is not possible. I know how you die River!" I pulled her to her feet and place my hands on her shoulders, as if I could simply shake the words, shake the future, into her.

"I know how you die River. And it's not like this." The words come out harsher than I intended them, and I wince. The shock registers on her face before anger takes its place.

"You know _what,_ Doctor?" She demands, a sharp edge dripping from her voice like ice. I bite my tongue, and take a step away from River, immediately regretting my words.

"The Doctor. This is just like you. Do you know that? Thinking it's your job to keep every one safe from their own futures. You can't save everyone Doctor, and you certainly can't save me. I don't want to be saved. You know that everyone dies Doctor. _Everyone_ knows that, and no one knows it like you. I just dropped in to say goodbye, so you better start accepting death now, Sweetie. Because I'm leaving."

Before I could get another word in, River pulled open the TARDIS door, stepping out into who-know's-what, kicking the door closed behind her.

The TARDIS started whirring and spinning, though I hadn't touched anything. I crumpled to the ground, the tears that I had been holding back finally crashing over me in waves.

River would see me again, she would die knowing I wanted to save her. And I would. Four thousand, twenty-two survivors. One saved.

But I would never again she her. I cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I cried for all of the things I would never get to say, for all of the things I would never get to do. All of the places I wanted to take River, all of the nights I wanted to spend with her.

And none of it mattered, because she was gone.

Eventually I stood, and looked around the TARDIS that seemed so strangely desolate now that she was gone.

I dug through my pockets, ready to try and go back and find her when I noticed something. I allowed myself a small smile, and a quick prayer of thanks to whatever Supreme Being existed in this part of the universe. All for one reason.

Because, for whatever it's worth, Professor River Song had stolen my sonic screw driver.

_**A/N- Idk, I think it's a little OOC for River. And The Doctor. I usually write from Ten's POV not Eleven's. Anywho... Let me know what you think. Read and review. **_


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